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Global Fashion and Design Week to kick off today

by TrickyScribe April 13, 2017

@ScribeTricky: First-ever edition of the three-day ‘Global Fashion and Design WeekNoida 2017’ will be flagged off at Marwah Studio Complex, Film City, Noida on Thursday. The idea is to promote fashion and design education, to support the fashion and design fraternity, to create awareness of national and international designers and their work, to uplift the standard of the fashion and design industry and to create synergy between fashion design and other industries.

“It is a 3-fashion and design extravaganza which will conclude on Saturday,” said Sandeep Marwah, the renowned media personality who has been designated the Festival President. The festival will witness fashion designers from all over India and across the world.

Indo-Wales Creative Forum, Indo-Nigerian Film Association, Indo-Peru Film And Cultural Forum, Indo-Polish Film Association, Indo-Romanian Film And Cultural Forum and Indo-Hungarian Film Association have come forward to support the first ‘Global Fashion and Design Week Noida 2017’.

Festival Director Sandeep Marwah also added, “Apart from these, we have received confirmation from over 30 other film and cultural forums of their association with this event. Indeed the first, Global Fashion and Design Week Noida 2017 is an international event of a grand stature. Such an initiative has taken place for the first time where schools, colleges, fashion and design fraternity, film and television fraternity, fashion consultants, designers and fashion shows from more than 25 countries of the world are participating.”

International Film and Television Club, International Film and Television Research Centre, International Public Broadcasting Forum, International Children’s Film Forum and International Women’s Film Forum have confirmed their participation with the first Global Fashion and Design Week Noida 2017.

“More than 200 people are working day in and day out to plan and design the Global Fashion and Design Week Noida 2017 to make it a grand success. We need support from all the angles to be successful. Soon this event will be in the books of the international fashion industry,” added Sandeep Marwah.

The Asian Education Group President, Sandeep Marwah explains about the qualification of the festival which makes it famous and memorable. “First, every festival needs consistency and continuity. We are organizing it for the first time and we are pledged to organize the same in all the years to come, as we are maintaining our consistency in other festivals we celebrate as well. We are expecting a footfall of around 15,000 people in three days. This festival, with participation from so many countries, has become a flagship for all other festivals and it will become the base for bringing love and affection in the world through the spirit of fashion and design,” he said.

Exhibitions on painting, jewelry, interior and photography are going to be a part of the show. Moreover, seminars and workshops will be held on various current issues from the cosmos of the fashion and design world for the sake of academic pursuit. Fashion shows and cultural events would definitely captivate the audience by their mesmerizing dedication. The screening of fashion-related films will be one of the major highlights of this festival.

It is likely to promote holistic development and inclusive growth across the entire world through the wheels of secularism, humanity and integrity fuelled by the fashion, design and fabric world comprised of different textures, colors and designs.

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April 13, 2017

TN cropers vex while others await Baisakhi

by TrickyScribe April 12, 2017

written by TrickyScribe

@ScribeTricky: With the Baisakhi festivity gripping the north-western states, India, still being an agrarian economy, is all set for express gratitude to the Almighty for the bountiful harvest and pray for prosperity and good times in future. Baisakhi is all set to bring political storms this time.

Recent developments in three states, viz. Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have brought the debate on the waiver of farm loans back under the political limelight.

A major issue in this regard still remains unresolved that is the issue of Tamil farmers staging Dharnas and demonstrations for their “needful” demand of loan waiver. A group of farmers, all from Tamil Nadu, has been agitating in New Delhi for a complete waive off their agricultural bank loans citing highly decimated produce for consecutive years.

The almost a month-long agitation took a drastic turn when the demonstrating farmers went naked in front of the Prime Minister’s Office to putting rats in their mouth. They even sat on the road at Jantar Mantar and ate rice off the ground. What a splendid show in a country whose primary profession happens to be cultivation? And how tight the slap was on the Neta-Babu nexus that has led to a situation as pathetic as this?

Eating rice off the ground is a ritual which is observed in temples mostly. It is an act of prayer asking help from the gods. “We flourish in life from nature and now we eat from nature. We have nothing to lose. We will sit here and pray till our death,” said a protesting farmer Thyagarajan.

“Political parties are requesting us to call off our protest because of the way we agitated outside the PMO. We can’t lose hope. We will continue our agitation until our demands are met,” said Ayyakkannu, leader of the farmers.

The farmers have been living near Jantar Mantar for almost a month now. They eat, sleep and bathe at Jantar Mantar. Sick farmers have been sent back home and replaced by others coming in. The farmers, however, claim that they will not budge until the Centre adheres to their demands, which include a complete waiver of farm loans and a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore.

Madras High Court had earlier directed the state government to waive all farm loans accessed through cooperative banks, irrespective of the size of the farmer’s landholdings. The court took the view that this classification was arbitrary in the context of loans, and wanted the big farmers to get the write-off benefits too putting an additional burden of Rs 1980.33 crores on the state exchequer. Tamil Nadu had recently released drought relief of about Rs 2,300 crores to farmers, crediting the amount directly into their bank accounts.

Uttar Pradesh

In Uttar Pradesh, the newly-elected BJP government under CM Yogi Adityanath announced on Wednesday last that it would write-off crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh for about 21.6 million small and marginal farmers.

Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, the Devendra Fadnavis government said it was studying the UP model to see if a similar loan waiver scheme was feasible in the state, after the Opposition vowed to continue agitations till farmers got a reprieve.

RBI’s take

Expressing his displeasure at the spate of loan waiver announcements in different states, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Urjit Patel on Thursday last said “it would undermine an honest credit culture and impact credit discipline.”
Development economists, however, feel that as long as strong systemic changes are ushered in through which the cost of cultivation is reduced and the price for farm produce is increased, the cycle of farm loan waivers would be inevitable.

Short-term measure

Development economists feel farm loan waivers are short-term measures but are nevertheless necessary in times of severe drought or floods. However, they said that there was a deeper systemic problem that has pushed farmers strongly into the debt cycle.

A former economist at the Madras Institute of Development Studies told TrickyScribe while pleading anonymity the price for farm produce has stagnated over the years. The cost of agricultural inputs, on the contrary, have soared. “Unless the government reduces cost of production and increases agriculture profit, farmers will remain caught in the debt cycle,” he added.

“Unless the government reduces cost of production and increases agriculture profit, farmers will remain caught in the debt cycle,” he added.What kind of Baisakhi do we expect this year? Will it be a Thanksgiving as always or will it become a mockery of the agrarians with celebs performing bhangra and gidda for Page 3 parties?

What kind of Baisakhi do we expect this year? Will it be a Thanksgiving as always or will it become a mockery of the agrarians with celebs performing bhangra and gidda for Page 3 parties?

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April 12, 2017

Geopolitics

Communal tension grips Bhagalpur

by TrickyScribe April 10, 2017

written by TrickyScribe

Tension gripped Bhagalpur on Sunday as beef was found thrown near a temple located in the Jagdamba Chowk of Hussainabad bucket factory locality. As a precautionary measure and to dampen the aftershocks of the incident in other parts of the country mobile internet services have been halted by the district administration.

That apart, a letter written by some Aymad of Puraini, claiming the blame, has also been found. The letter also states that the sponsors have also assured safety and security of the executor. The sponsor has been named as Rehan in the letter.

In its bid to maintain law and order in the district, the police administration has also deployed Rapid Action Force besides the local cops. Although the situation is presently under control, the tension still simmers. Locals spotted the beef that was carefully packed in a transparent container in the wee hours of Sunday and the news did spread like wildfire.

Agitated by the happening, the locals resorted to large-scale arson and interrupted the main road traffic for over a couple of hours. Blaming a nearby abattoir for the incident, the enraged masses demanded its immediate and permanent closure as well.

The local cops assured the agitators that culprits behind the episode will definitely be brought to justice as their identification will be based on footages of the nearby CCTVs.

Communal disharmony has become a perennial feature in Bhagalpur, a place known worldwide for its typical Tasar silk. Similar tension prevailed in the city in January last.

It may be mentioned here that Bhagalpur has a history of communal violence, and in 1989, the Hindu-Muslims tensions had escalated during the Muharram and Bisheri Puja festivities in August.

The Bhagalpur riots refer to the Hindu-Muslim violence in the Bhagalpur district, Bihar that started on October 24, 1989 and continued for 2 months. The violence affected the Bhagalpur city and 250 villages around it.

Over 1,000 people (of which, around 900 were Muslims), were killed, and another 50,000 were displaced. By the time the barbarity was tamed, it became the worst Hindu-Muslim violence in independent India at the time, surpassing the 1969 Gujarat riots.

In 1989, as part of the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, which aims to construct a Hindu temple at Ayodhya in place of the Babri mosque, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had organized a “Ramshila” procession in Bhagalpur. The procession aimed to collect bricks (shilas) for the proposed Ram temple at Ayodhya. One such procession passing through Fatehpur village provoked arson and brickbatting on October 22.

Those apart, the political and criminal rivalries in the area also played a role in inciting the riots.

On October 24, 1989, the Ramshila processions from the various parts of the district were to proceed to the Gaushala area, from where they would move on to Ayodhya. The procession coming from Parbatti area passed peacefully through Tatarpur, a Muslim-dominated area, after its leader Mahadev Prasad Singh told the Hindus not to raise any provocative slogans.

Another procession from Nathnagar arrived at Tatarpur. This massive procession was escorted for safety by the police, in the presence of the then Bhagalpur SP KS Dwivedi. Some members of the procession shouted slogans such as “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan, Mullah Bhago Pakistan (India is for Hindus, Muslims run away to Pakistan) and Babur ki auladon, bhago Pakistan ya Kabristan (Children of Babur, run away to Pakistan or to the graveyard).”

The then Bhagalpur DM Arun Jha stopped the procession at the Parbatti-Tatarpur junction. The DM then requested the Muslims to allow the procession to pass through Tatarpur, but the Muslims refused and demanded that the procession must take an alternative route to Gaushala.

Meanwhile, crude bombs were thrown at the procession from the premises of the neighbouring Muslim high school. Although no one was killed in the bombing, as many as 11 policemen suffered minor injuries triggering the riots.

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April 10, 2017

Business & Commerce

Key differences between preferred stock and common stock?

by TrickyScribe April 9, 2017

written by TrickyScribe

Preferred and common stocks are different in two key aspects.

Firstly, preferred stockholders have a greater claim to a company’s assets and earnings. This is true during the good times when the company has excess cash and decides to distribute money in the form of dividends to its investors. In these instances when distributions are made, preferred stockholders must be paid before common stockholders. However, this claim is most important during times of insolvency when common stockholders are last in line for the company’s assets. This means that when the company must liquidate and pay all creditors and bondholders, common stockholders will not receive any money until after the preferred shareholders are paid out.

Secondly, the dividends of preferred stocks are different from and generally greater than those of common stock. When you buy a preferred stock, you will have an idea of when to expect a dividend because they are paid at regular intervals. This is not necessarily the case for common stock, as the company’s board of directors will decide whether or not to pay out a dividend. Because of this characteristic, preferred stock typically don’t fluctuate as often as a company’s common stock and dividends are typically guaranteed, meaning that if the company misses one, it will be required to pay it before any future dividends are paid on either stock.

Preferred stock are sometimes referred to as hybrid securities due to its bond-like characteristics. Like bonds, preferred have a par value which is affected by interest rates. When interest rates rise, the value of the preferred stock declines and vice versa. With common stocks however, the value of shares is regulated by demand and supply of the market participants.

Unlike common shares, preferreds have a callability feature which gives the issuer the right to redeem the shares from the market after a predetermined time.

Finally, preferred shares can be converted to a fixed number of common shares, but common shares don’t have this benefit.

Looking up a preferred stock’s quote is as easy as looking up the quote for a common share. For example,an investor that wants to look up the quote of both common and preferred for Wells Fargo would use the ticker symbol WFC for common shares and WFC.PRX, WFCPRX, or WFC-PX for the company’s Series X Class A preferred stock.

To sum up: a good way to think of a preferred stock is as a security with characteristics somewhere in-between a bond and a common stock.

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April 9, 2017

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted normal rainfall this year

Geopolitics

Vardhaman Mahavir: Monk, Philosopher, Guide and God

by TrickyScribe April 9, 2017

written by TrickyScribe

Ashish Saurabh: In times when racial attacks, genocides and hatred are brewing, the concept of ‘Ahimsa’ as preached by Mahavir provides solution. At a time when the United States fired a barrage of 59 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles from its naval ship deployed in the Mediterranean Sea as a result to the use of chemical weapons on alleged civilians by the Syrian regime, the world definitely needs to go back to the teachings of the last Tirthankar of Jains, Mahavir.

Even the strategic silence of the Indian government on the issue is being criticized. India has not lambasted the Syrian government’s decision of the mass killings. Those opposing the American strikes blame that ally of “an ally is an ally-in-law” and this is the reason behind India’s silence.

Those apart, April 9 being the 2616th birth anniversary of the crusader of peace and harmony, Mahavir, let us take a look on the life of the sage. Perhaps, this might inculcate pro-peace feeling.

Life History

Mahavir Jayanti, one of the most important religious festivals of the Jain community, is celebrated with zeal in India and across the world to commemorate the birth and philosophy of Lord Mahavira.

Mahavira was the last Tirthanka and founder of Jainism in India. He was born on the thirteenth day of the rising moon of Chaitra to King Siddartha and Queen Trisala in Vaishali (Bihar), a few miles from present Patna city. His parents named him Vardhaman.

According to Swetambars, Vardhaman’s expecting mother had 14 dreams. When astrologers interpreted these dreams, they predicted that the child would become either an emperor or Tirthankar, a person who achieves spiritual enlightenment. The prophecies of the astrologers came true and later he became the 24th Tirthankar.

Early Life

Mahavira lived as a prince. But, in his early years he developed a deep interest in the core beliefs of Jainism and started meditating. At the age of 30, he renounced the throne and his family to seek spiritual truth and spent twelve years as an ascetic. He spent most of his time meditating and preaching non-violence to people and also showed utmost reverence to all living beings. Mahavira chose an extremely ascetic life. While enduring the penance, he controlled his senses. His courage and exemplary action in controlling the senses earned him the name Mahavira. And he devoted the rest of his life preaching the truth of spiritual freedom. Thus, Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated every year to commemorate his preaching and Jain philosophy.

How Mahavir Jayanti is Celebrated?

Mahavir Jayanti is an auspicious occasion for the Jain community. Followers visit the temples and offer ceremonial bath, known as ‘abhishek’, to Mahavira’s idol. The temples are lavishly decorated with flags to mark the birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira. Majestic chariot processions are also carried out with the images followed by millions of devotees while chanting prayers. Traditional dishes are prepared on this particular day and alms are offered to the poor.

On the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti, sermons are also held in shrines or temples to preach the philosophy of spiritual freedom and virtue. Important chapters from the life of Mahavira are read out to the devotees that also contain biographies of Jain Tirthankars. Devotees and followers of Jainism send Mahavir Jayanti messages to relive the great teachings and life of Lord Mahavira. Amazing Mahavir Jayanti greetings, e-cards and Mahavir Jayanti SMS are shared with friends and family to celebrate the holy occasion.

Folklore Associated

A Tapaswi was meditating under a tree when a cow herder approached him to look after his herd while he could arrange some food for himself. Deep in meditation the Tapaswi did not respond. The herder thought that his request was herd and went. When he returned back he was amazed to find all his cows missing, while Tapaswi was still in meditation. Infuriated herder was about to whip the Tapaswi when an angel confronted him and stopped him. The angel convinced herder that his cows went missing not because of Tapaswi but because of his bad Karmas. Once out of his meditation the Tapaswi was not angry at the herder but blessed him such that he could trace his herd back.

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Being a Sage

That Tapaswi was Vardhaman who taught world about tolerance, forgiveness and peaceful coexistence. Vardhaman, one of the greatest exponents of the Anekantvada, Syayvada and Nyayvada was born in royal clan of Ishvaku dynasty in Bihar in 540 BC. Bravery shown by the Vardhaman earned him the title ‘Mahavir’ meaning Bravest.

At age of 30, Mahavir had an urgent spiritual urge. Following this he spent twelve years wandering, meditating, severe penance while abandoning worldly things. At age of 43, Mahavir became kevali(omniscient). Following this, he spent next 30 years of his life wandering and teaching his principles.

His period was one of turmoil. Politically, the Mahajanpadas of the period were involved in bitter rivalry to expand at the cost of others. Socially, the established Brahmanincal society was witnessing strains because of its inability to accommodate new social realities of the period that included growing business class which was not given substantial social respect. The changing economies of the period had direct bearing on the societal and cultural interaction of the period. The teachings of Mahavir were powerful in responding to the needs of his time.

Soon his followers increased. Royals of the period, including Bimbisar of Magadha, Chetaka of Videha and Kunika of Anga were drawn into his teaching. Many rulers who came later in his history were also influenced by his teaching. Legends say that the great Maurya king, Chandragupta Maurya had abdicated his thorne and left his empire to practise penance as per Jain tradition under guidance of Bhadrabahu, a renowned Jain philosopher.

Teachings:

Ahimsa: not to harm any living being;

Satya: to speak harmless truth only;

Asteya: not to take anything not properly given;

Brahmacharya: not to indulge in sensual pleasure;

Aprigraha: complete detachment from people, place and Material things.

Philosophy:

Mahavir had an immense impact on the philosophical tradition in India. His philosophical interventions are too many to be captured but two amongst them has been critical in Indian philosophical tradition since then.

Anekantavada: This propounds that reality can be perceived from multiple view points and no single view can be truth. This idea of pluralism of thoughts and multiplicity of truth has been taken by many.

Syadvada: this propounds that all judgements are good only in certain conditions and not all.

(The author is a post graduate in History from JNU, New Delhi. He can be contacted on Twitter @ScribeAshish and over the email: ashish.saurabh@trickyscribe.in)

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April 9, 2017

Public Health & Nutrition

Carberp Trojan code for malware deployment?

by TrickyScribe April 8, 2017

written by TrickyScribe

WikiLeaks reveals CIA’s modern espionage tools

WikiLeaks on Friday (April 7, 2017) released Vault 7, Grasshopper, 27 documents from the CIA’s Grasshopper framework, a platform used to build customized malware payloads for Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Grasshopper contains modules that can be used by a CIA operator as blocks to construct a customized implant that behaves differently, for example maintaining persistence on the computer differently, depending on what particular features or capabilities are selected in the process of building the bundle. Additionally, Grasshopper provides a flexible language to define rules that are used to “perform a pre-installation survey of the target device, assuring that the payload will only (be) installed if the target has the right configuration”.

Through this grammar, CIA operators can build from very simple to very complex logic used to determine, for example, if the target device is running a specific version of Microsoft Windows or if a particular Antivirus product is running or not.

Grasshopper allows tools to be installed using a variety of persistence mechanisms and modified using a variety of extensions (like encryption). The requirement list of the Automated Implant Branch (AIB) for Grasshopper puts special attention on PSP (personal security products) avoidance, so that PSPs like ‘MS Security Essentials’, ‘Rising’, ‘Symantec Endpoint’ or ‘Kaspersky IS’ on target machines do not detect Grasshopper elements.

One of the persistence mechanisms used by the CIA here is ‘Stolen Goods’, whose “components were taken from malware known as Carberp, a suspected Russian organized crime rootkit (a set of software tools).”

Confirming the recycling of malware found on the Internet by the CIA. “The source of Carberp was published online and has allowed AED/RDB to steal components easily as needed from the malware.”

While the CIA claims that “(most) of Carberp was not used in stolen goods” they, however, do acknowledge that “(the) persistence method and parts of the installer, were taken and modified to fit our needs,” providing a further example of reuse of portions of publicly available malware by the CIA, as observed in their analysis of the material leaked from Italian company “HackingTeam”.

The documents published by WikiLeaks provide an insight into the process of building modern espionage tools and how the CIA maintains persistence over infected Microsoft Windows computers, providing directions for those seeking to defend their systems to identify any existing compromise.

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Total Views: 3,33,720

April 8, 2017

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